A Lot To Be Forgiven For
by 12-Jammie-Dodgers-and-a-Fez
Summary: Eleven/River. Their miss-ordered timelines cause problems and for River to do something the Doctor can't forgive her for. Thing is, she has no idea what she's done, or rather, will do.
1. Doctor! Careful!

**I'm not sure how often I'll be able to update this one but I got the idea and really wanted to write it. I'll do my best to update at least once a week. Let me know what you think. x**

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><p>"Run, that's all we ever seem to do these days." A smirk moulding her features, the blonde sprinted, jumping upturned office chairs and 20th century computer monitors as she did so.<p>

Watching her now, as she easily took the lead, Amy couldn't help but assume that the archaeologist used times like this to prove that she was faster than them – even in her killer heels. It wasn't much of a feat to be faster than a woman in her 8th month of pregnancy, but she ran in front nevertheless when others would have waited and helped.

Now, River wasn't complaining, she never did, but there was always that part of her that would hate running with the Doctor; the perpetual running from danger as opposed to straight to its core as she so longed. However, she knew the doctor was right in his decision, especially with Amy in her current condition. Part of her missed the days before he had fallen into her life, back when she was more of a 'shoot first ask questions later' kind of girl, but she wouldn't give him up for anything.

Reaching the blue box as it appeared in front of the pair, and watching the doors creak open with a snap of her fingers, River Song sighed, the realisation of what she would soon have to do making itself all too clear. She couldn't be here when Amy gave birth; it was too dangerous. She had only returned because of the doctor's mistake. He had returned the redhead to Leadworth, yes, but 10 years before she had left causing some problems when she tried to go home. Cut to when River had found her, huddled with Rory at the Leadworth post office, a mass of raptors attempting to purge the Earth of this discrepancy.

Pilling into the newly appeared TARDIS, the women, and Rory, had no time to catch their breath before the engines whirred into action, once more making their signature wheezing sound. Sat in the doorway, gasping, it was Rory that stood first, checking his wife was okay and once again reminding her of his nurse status.

"Sweetie," Though she found herself still out of breath, the blonde glanced up through her curls, purring slightly as she glanced at her man. On her feet once more, attention pulled by the engines, River made her way to the centre of the control room, her hand reaching for a lever, "It's not that difficult to take the brake off."

Her hand never found its way to the lever though as a brash move, on the Doctor's part, sent the ship careening to the left, all passengers going with it causing the machine to let out an audible groan of annoyance.

"Doctor!" This yell was from Rory as he attempted to balance long enough to reach his heavily pregnant wife who now lay where the force of the jolt had thrown her; on the floor below theirs, "Careful!"

Amy herself was groaning, a hand clutched to her stomach. As promptly as the engines had roared into life, they now halted, throwing those inside once more – she didn't like being flown roughly. His face a combination of anger and fear, the Timelord jogged to his injured companion's side, ignoring the blonde woman's wince of pain as she clutched at the railings though the ship's motion had long stopped. All eyes on Amy as she moaned in pain, the older woman was forgotten and left to collapse to her knees, no wounds visible. Their distraction was understandable however, as blood pooled from the redhead's protruding stomach. This was the first sign that River Song had stayed longer than she should.

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><p>That morning, River Song had awoken in the arms of her lover. Or rather, arm; the other one still handcuffed to the TARDIS control terminal from the night before. Yawning, she stretched out and stood, off in search of her caffeine fix. It was only when a throat cleared behind her that she turned to glance at the chained man attempting and failing to cover his modesty.<p>

"Relax," A hand running through her hair, she watched with a smirk, "The TARDIS has seen it all before and we're the only two here."

"Yes, you told me that before you went to sleep, 32467 seconds ago." The Timelord rebuked, his voice a mixture of annoyance and amusement at the situation, still pulling at the cuff, "How many times do I have to tell you that Timelord's only sleep once per regeneration cycle. I've been sat here this whole time...what are you laughing at?"

The blond was indeed laughing, the sound oddly sweet to be coming from her. She knelt next to him, kissing him before softly biting his bottom lip, tugging at it slightly and purred in High Gallifreyan, "You are so alien. Any human man lying next to a naked woman would not have restrained themselves so well. Always the gentleman."

As a result of this, she herself seemed mighty alien, the words rolling off her tongue and to her lover's ear. Grabbing the sonic screwdriver from the jacket that had been haphazardly thrown in the passion of the night before, the woman undid the handcuffs. The second they were undone, her face was caught between two strong hands, evoking a small squeak to escape her lips as another pair crashed against them. She only spoke in his native tongue for two reasons; to get what she wanted and, less often, when they argued.

She broke the kiss, sitting back on her haunches as she placed a finger to his lips, the word she spoke still in the other's language, "Later." Returning to her own language, she added, "Coffee first."

The Doctor sighed, accepting defeat, but kept his eyes on the blonde as she wandered to the coffee machine, her mind now somewhere else.

"You said you're going to visit Amy today?" leaning back against the TARDIS railings as she waited for her cup of 'wake up juice' as she put it, she muttered as she played with her tousled hair, her tone greatly different from that of before "I might just stay in the TARDIS for a bit. Never was one for babies."

No matter how many times River would say this, no one would believe her. They'd all seen the way she had demanded the Doctor run more tests on the expectant mother. How protective she was of her whenever they ventured to a new planet. The only thing off about the way she reacted around Amy was her hesitancy to touch her or, more specifically, her stomach. She feigned illness whenever the redhead got close, telling her to stay back so the baby wouldn't get ill but all she had succeeded in doing was rousing suspicions.

"But if the baby's born, you'll be able to collect on your bet...unless it's a boy of course." Now fully clothed and pressing buttons on the ship's consol, he added, "But then, I suppose you've already seen it in the future...your past, so you'd know if it's a girl or not..."

Trailing off, he watched River from the corner of his eye, evermore concerned. It wasn't like her to hid from adventure, as she was now about to prove. She didn't need this, she hadn't even had her coffee yet. Abandoning the machine in favour of her mess of clothes at the other end of the room, she removed herself from the company of the Timelord and his incessant baby talk. She returned once half dressed, she returned into his line of sight, shoes in hand.

"Changed your mind yet? Or do you still need your coffee before you agree to come with me?" He held out the mug, joking playfully but stopped when he caught sight of her expression.

Stilettos now firmly upon her feet, she slipped the vortex manipulator onto her thin wrist, slapping down the button as she shouted, once more in Gallifreyan, "I have other things to do!" and promptly vanished.


	2. Sontaran Baby Battle Helmet

**Thank you for all the reviews for the last chapter, they made me feel loved and what not. Hope I don't disappoint with this chapter, let me know what you think. Also, I hope it's not confusing as it jumps character and time quite often so I hope you follow.**

**x**

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><p>Knelt in the pool of blood seeping from his companion, the Doctor scanned over her with his sonic; the only thing he knew to do in these situations. If he was being truthful, he was using the sonic to hide the gurgling and coughing sounds Amy made with each convulsion.<p>

"I can...stop the bleeding...at least..." Between each few words, he altered the frequency at which the sonic buzzed, searching for the right setting, "Numb the pain..."

As her sounds faded, as serene look glossing over her face, the man returned to scanning her stomach, his forehead crinkling with confusion.

"Baby's heartbeat's fading!" He hit the sonic against his forehead, "What do we do Rory! Think. Think. Think." He punctuated each word with a hit of the device against his brow, his eyes on the convulsing woman.

His medical training forgotten, the second Pond ran his hands over his wife's stomach, "Amy..." His voice quivered, matching the shaking of his hands.

"The TARDIS core..." The words thinner than breath, River pulled on her strength, straining to return to her feet and feign a lack of pain. Her feet stumbled forward, as her legs shook; her balance reliant on the rickety metal railings to her right. "Let her breath it in...no more than 3 seconds..." As she spoke, innumerable scars began etching themselves on her skin, pulling her focus, "Do it fast..."

Her breath coming fast, she grimaced fighting to prevent her legs from buckling until the men were moving the redhead towards the control panel. No words were spoken between the three as each focused on different things. River's thoughts were the first to stop however, her hands slipping from the railings, her eyes closing involuntarily and her last breath escaping to mingle with the conditioned air.

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><p>It was with a thud that River hit the ground a mere 3 feet to the right of the fast disappearing TARDIS. This was not where she had planned to materialise but, incase the retreating Timelord had his scanners on, she stood, ignoring the pain in her left leg, and brushed herself off.<p>

"Must be faulty." She mumbled, knowing her device never malfunctioned because it wanted to; there was always a reason.

If she had to describe it, she would say her relationship with her vortex manipulator was a less powerful version of the Doctor's relationship with his blue box. It knew where she wanted to go but it also knew where it wanted to go and, occasionally, refused to acquiesce. The whir of displeasure coming from her wrist told her that this wasn't one of those occasions however.

"What's wrong with you today?" She stroked the faux leather cover (real leather having gone out of production centuries previous to the time in which she lived due to the race of super-cows the Earth seemed to be producing, the latest now with opposable thumbs) and flicked it open, squinting to view the enclosed mechanism.

The human equivalent of the TARDIS prized itself on being small on the outside and smaller still on the inside: a feat of engineering brilliance but it did make repairing the device nigh on impossible for those larger than a Tentrifenian youth and, as such, Tentrifenion families made their fortune by deporting their children to Earth for courses on vortex manipulator repair. The archeologist's repairman was the best, her hallucinogenic lipstick playing a large part in him agreeing to fix it, and she swore to get him to check it over once she was back in her own century.

From what she could see, it appeared to have short-circuited which was odd for her manipulator: this usually only happened when it was transporting more people than expected.

For now, however, she stopped the theories and slipped it from her wrist, placing the device (that she had affectionately named Herbert after the first victim of her lipstick) into her satchel, distracted by a screeching overhead.

"You brought mummy to trouble. Good boy Herbert." She smirked, petting the satchel as her gaze was drawn skyward.

Trouble had been an understatement with three rather gruesome looking raptors circling overhead. They didn't seem to be circling her but the small building behind her, the sign of which told her they were interested in Leadworth post office. If they were interested, why shouldn't she be? Thankful her heels made little noise of the flowerbed she had landed in, she stalked into the building, a shooting pain searing through her leg with each step. Even with the pain, she couldn't help wishing she'd worn her cat-suit; much more fun for this kind of thing – not to mention, Herbert liked it and she was willing to do anything to make him feel better at this point.

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><p>Following the conversation with River earlier, the TARDIS had known where her driver had wanted to be and subsequently taken him there; preferring when she piloted herself as she was then free to remove the brakes if she so wished. This time she didn't, knowing it would calm her thief in time for his meeting with his old companions. He rubbed over a panel with his thumb before kissing a plastic 'whirly gig'.<p>

"Thanks Sexy. Women are so complicated." Searching for his special baby hat, he riffled through a coat cupboard just off the main control room, "What would I do without you?"

She purred in response, sending the hat flying at the back of his head from the cupboard it was actually located in. The hat could only be described as an adult sized baby bonnet.

"Look how cool I look!" With the hat firmly in place, he sauntered out of the TARDIS, grimacing slightly as it became apparent that his ship had landed herself atop the old garden shed – she'd never really liked that thing, "Bad Sexy."

She purred again, this time more of a hum, as her other door opened, pushing him forward into the centre of the garden. He traipsed in through the back door, his usual awkward gait causing him to bop oddly side to side. _I should have brought a balloon,_ he thought, _balloons are cool._

"Guess who's..." He paused as Rory rushed into the hallway, a finger to his lips and a sleeping baby in his arms. Continuing in a whisper, he added "here." Before glancing at the baby and noticing her lack of hat.

"Only just got her to sleep, she likes to cry." The nurse's voice was hoarse, clearly tired, not at all as the Doctor had expected to see the new father.

He lead the way into the kitchen to where Amy sat, finishing her breakfast. She gestured for him to pass the baby to her, without standing, and smiled when the sleeping tot snuggled into her chest.

"What have you got on your head?" The redhead was also tired but her smile more than made up for that.

She kissed her husband before he could leave, muttering something against his lips that sounded remarkably like, "Be nice."

Ignoring the tension as Rory squeezed past him back into the hallway, a smug look crossed the Doctor's face and he pointed to the hat atop his head, "This is my genuine Sontaran baby battle helmet, complete with visor." He flicked a concealed switch above his ear causing the hat to fold out to what really did look like a baby blue, silk Sontaran battle helmet. As the visor covered his eyes, the Timelord removed the headwear, feeling the need to explain, "Their heads start out normal human shape before they go all potato-ey."

As his hands showed what he meant, he stuck his tongue out at the empty can of beans next to the stove.

"How can you let those things back in the house!" Forgetting entirely why he was supposed to be quiet, he picked up the can, throwing it through the open window to clatter on the pavement outside.

With the sound of the tin rolling to the grass came a sharp intake of breath into the baby's lungs, followed by a deafening wail and a glare from Amy as she rocked her.

"Isn't your mummy allowed even a little bit of quiet?" She signed and began singing though it appeared her accent only made the infant scream louder.

Lost as to what to do, the Doctor pointed his sonic at the screaming child, hoping to God children had a mute setting. He was stopped however, his thumb hovering over the button as a mass of curls enter, arms outstretched to take the crying baby.

"You should have woken me. You know she likes feeding first thing, it's useless to try and change it." Pushing the hair from her eyes, she smiled at the screeching youngster, trying to sooth her, "I know baby, mama's here."

"We wanted to let you sleep." As she spoke, the redhead stood and handed over the baby, who instantly stopped crying, "You've hardly slept all week."

The Doctor had heard no words since the woman in her pale yellow nightie had walked into the room. Mouth agape, he now looked from Amy's still protruding stomach, to the baby, to the blonde now feeding her and through the full cycle again.

"What?"


	3. You Are So Alien

**Thank you for the lovely reviews again! I'm sorry it's so confusing; it's difficult for me because I know what's going to happen so I can't really see it from your viewpoint...if that makes sense. Anyhoo, let me know what you think. Oh, and don't forget, I love you all.**

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><p>"Trust you two to get yourselves into trouble." Tapping her foot against the tiled floor, a look of pure glee spread across River's face as the couple before her saw her, their expressions a mixture of relief and embarrassment, "Which one of you interacted with your own timeline?"<p>

She loved understanding more about the limitations put in place when travelling through time than the Doctor's other companions did, it was the one benefit to knowing more about their timelines than they themselves did. She had to take joy in the little things now; they were all she had left. It was rare now for River to meet her friends with them knowing her as more than just the woman with the gun. She was used to it now, the blank expression when she hinted towards her identity, but that didn't mean she had to accept it. Glancing through the window at the creatures outside, she sighed, failing to spot the guilty look the married couple shared.

"_Someone_ got jealous when a younger version of himself asked to feel the baby kick." Putting emphasis on the first word, the redhead smiled, able to see the funny side of the situation at least.

"You don't even let me feel it now! Why should he get to feel it!" Rory exclaimed, his face a mixture of the jealousy he had felt before and indignity at being seen as the one in the wrong.

"You're the same person, stupid." Rolling her eyes, Amy Pond stood with some difficulty, leaving her husband in favour of the window the blonde stood by, "They turned up right after." She nodded up at the winged monsters swooping lower with each circle, "But the Doctor must have messed up. Yeah? 'Cause this is Leadworth but it's way too early."

"Yeah." Pulling her hair back into a ponytail, the blonde stepped slightly further from Amy, clearly not comfortable with the close proximity but trying not to draw too much attention to it, "He's not the best at programming in the date." She muttered absentmindedly before refocusing, seemingly back in the room again after her distraction, "I offered to do it but he wouldn't listen."

Her repositioning had not gone unnoticed, with both Ponds now staring at her, one unable to control her emotions quite as effectively. Witnessing the tears welling up in his wife's eyes, Rory was at her side, almost instantaneously, rubbing her back slowly. He had seen, first hand, the effects her hormones had been having on her recently and was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to stop her if she burst out in tears. Amy sniffed softly, burying her head into her husband's neck to hide the solitary tear that tracked down her cheek. Until 8 months previously in her timeline, she liked to think her relationship with River was one of close friendship; considerably different to now.

Sighing, River concentrated on the danger at outside, the safer option in her opinion, her fingertips running over the greying window frame, "This place is...30 years old, give or take a few months, its not going to hold those raptors out much longer." As she spoke one crashed into the roof the ceiling barely holding as dust shook through the room, as if to prove her point, "Where is that man when you need him?"

A perk of having a machine such as the TARDIS was the numerous ways in which you could program in the destination. Yes, you could simply punch in galactic coordinates followed by a date reference but, if you struggled with this as the Doctor often did, you could also program it to take you to a specific event, as long as you knew enough details. The ship's heading was roughly three seconds after River had said those words and she found herself spinning there now, brakes still on and thief in control.

"Never takes the breaks off." River laughed, turning abruptly as the wind created by the ships landing blew loose curls back from her face, "You ready to run?" A smirk appeared on her face, her argument with the Doctor that morning forgotten as she sprinted towards the wonder that was the blue box.

The couple stood still as opposed to running after her, shock at the direction their lives had taken contorting both faces. Muttering to herself about constantly saving them, the older woman turned, firing an alpha meson blast over their heads at the creature attempting to descend on them. The sound as it crashed to the ground sent them chasing after the blonde, now very aware of the beast still crawling behind them, it cries of pain attracting others from outside.

Now in full swing, River holstered her gun and cried, "Run, that's all we ever seem to do these days."

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><p>The baby still sucking lightly, River sat opposite the Doctor at the Pond's dining room table, glaring him down while his eyes flittered over her, unsure where to look. She had hardly aged since he had last seen her, only dark circles altering her appearance. He had never seen her tired before, knowing her to sleep only to kill time when she had broken out of Stormcage enough times for one month and daren't risk it again for fear of higher security levels being put in place. But here she sat, her anger with the ancient man the only thing preventing her eyes from closing.<p>

"You have no right to be here." She spat in High Gallifreyan, setting the tone for this confrontation and causing him to once again focus on her eyes. There was so much anger within each blue pool more than the man had seen in his many years, but it seemed to be nothing more than a mask, covering the deeper emotions within; the weakness, "You left me stranded here and now you're back?"

This was news to him and he attempted to interject but she raised a hand, silencing him. Not daring to speak, he stared at the small child in her arms, his brain struggling to determine what had happened since he supposedly left her there. He settled on the idea that she must have found herself a man, hence the baby. She no longer cared for him. Both his hearts fell at the thought of his River happy with another man. The Doctor was another with no wish to show weakness, especially in situations such as this, and instead he focused on the light dusting of sandy blonde hair the baby had with just a hint of curls. Pretty. Definitely a girl.

"Didn't even tell me what I'd done wrong, just kicked me out." River continued in his native tongue, her free arm gesticulating while the other cradled the baby who gurgled softly at the movement, "Sorry baby." She muttered, her face suddenly soft as she stared at the child in her arms. A scraping of the Doctor's chair pulled her attention again, her features curling into a snarl, "You waited until I told you how to save Amy of course then kicked me out into the 21st century!"

She stood, placing the baby over her shoulder and began burping her, pacing to and fro, making quiet 'shh-ing' sounds. At this brief interlude in her speech, the Timelord piped up, preferring to use English in the hopes it would diffuse the argument somewhat, "Why did Amy need saving?"

At this, the baby was placed down, her mother ready to tear into the 909 year old man, the only English leaving her lips being the name of her new housemate, "I tell you all that and the only thing you're concerned about is Amy!" Clearly he had asked the wrong question as she stood in front of him, her finger pushing against his chest, "You are so alien!" With these words she did not smirk like before. Instead, she simply raised her hand, slapping the man's cheek, hard.


	4. You Have To Leave

**Really sorry for the lack of updates; I managed to confuse myself with this one and didn't know how to write the next section. If you're still reading this fic, then I hope you enjoy the update and apologise for how short it is. Once I figure out what I'm doing with it again, updates should be longer and more frequent.**

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><p>"Okay.." Putting a hand to the side of his face, the Timelord stumbled back, backing himself into the kitchen's corner, "Wrong thing to say. Gotcha."<p>

"Damn right it's the wrong thing to say!" Seething, River pulled her child into her arms once more, knowing it was the only way to stop herself having another such outburst, "You want to talk now, you talk to Amy. I'm done with you."

With that, she left the room, rocking the baby as she muttered softly to her. Now in stunned silence, the Doctor remained where he stood, his cheek now reddening after the force of the blow. He was used to being slapped by River, but she usually felt better once she had caused him pain. Thought process disturbed as Amy hesitantly entered the room once more, the Doctor looked up, his eyes following her as she silently washed the dishes.

"Are you going to tell me what I've done so wrong? Because I could work it out, but it might take a while." He asked, semi-jovially though a serious look stayed plastered to his crimson face.

Neither of them spoke for the longest of times - Amy continued with the dished, soaping each one meticulously and, in many cases, twice. In this time, the Doctor calmed slightly, busying himself by assessing the many trivial objects the room possessed. It wasn't until a front door slam echoed through the building that Amy spoke a word.

"You better be nice to her." She dried her hands on a dishcloth before placing one on her hip, giving him a judging look, "She's been through hell this past week and you're only making it worse."

No better than a five year old, the Doctor raised his hands in protest, dropping the egg cup that he had previously seemed so interested in, "I didn't do anything." As Amy's look didn't change, he thought her words through again, only now fully registering the last part, "What happened?"

The redhead sighed, taking hold of her friend's hand, leading him into her garden to a small wooden cross in the shadow of an oak tree, "We did all we could."

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><p>"River?"<p>

The blonde's eyes fluttering open, the men came into view above her, both standing, hands in pockets as they stared.

"You okay?" It was Rory that spoke, crouching down next to her as the Timelord vanished from her view, "This gold stuff sort of came out of you…shot out really, like a firework."

"Yeah, that happens." River pulled herself into a sitting position, grunting slightly as she went light-headed, "As long as Amy's okay, I'm good." She didn't explain herself further as Rory left, presumably to be with the afore mentioned redhead - wherever she now was. Stumbling to her feet, River started after her partner, "I take it exposing her to the TARDIS core helped."

She ignored any pain she was in, speeding up as the man before her continued to move away from her. This dance continued, him pretending to check parts of the TARDIS while she followed, her heels tapping on the glass floor with every step.

"Doctor! For God's sake! Stop it!" Exasperated, she grabbed hold of his shoulder, pulling him back slightly as he spun to look at her, his eyes brimming with tears.

"No River, you stop it." He croaked, his words weak with the tears as he attempted to find something to fuel the anger he tried to display, "You have to leave. Now…you can't stay any longer."

The most certainly hadn't been the response River had expected and, her expression changing to one of confusion, she let her hand slip from his shoulder and instead hang at her side. Yes, she had been planning to leave soon, but she never for one moment thought that he would _want _her to leave.

"I don't understand." She was still hoarse from her earlier incident and it only added to the defeated tone of her voice.

"You will soon enough. Now go!" With his last word, he turned her, directing her to the TARDIS door. Though he knew he had no choice but to follow this chain of events, he couldn't help but wish it was different. Watching as the doors closed on her, he muttered, "I'm sorry." before locking them.


End file.
